


Twist off your ring, for a while.

by QueenyClairey



Series: Ficlet Instruments [16]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Desperation, Fear, Fear of Death, Ficletinstruments, Forbidden, Forbidden Love, Hiding, Love, M/M, future world, illegal relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-20 23:57:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21290303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenyClairey/pseuds/QueenyClairey
Summary: Forbidden relationshipTogether for years in secretPersecution faces them if they are discoveredMaybe deathDystopian future world
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Ficlet Instruments [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1449442
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39
Collections: Shadowhunters: The Ficlet Instruments





	Twist off your ring, for a while.

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> No one can ever, ever find out.

They meet in dark places. Under secret stairs, hidden away in back alleys, or boarded motel rooms, rented by the hour, far from prying eyes.  
He’s like a drug. Alec craves his taste, his touch with every hit. And he’s always begging for more, mouths and hands speaking words they daren’t say.

But Magnus isn't free beyond these hidden meetings. He keeps his other world squirreled away, unable to bear it if Alec saw the truth.

Alec would like to meet him in the open, hold his hand, kiss those rosy lips for all to see, ask him to stay and be his.

Before, he would have.

But they are forbidden.

To meet.

To touch.

To kiss.

To even be friends.

Alec was once gifted to a girl, held her hand in his, slid on a golden ring and promised forever. Magnus too wears a ring - silver and thick.

When they meet, he twists it off, leaves a white space on his caramel skin, takes Alec’s too and drops it into his pocket. Reminds him that even though they are tied to others, this is who they truly desire.

A warm breath on his neck, insistent fingers on his spine, a hardness at his hips, the taste of strawberries on his lips. The ghosts of Magnus follow him everywhere.

Sometimes they are comfort. Sometimes they scream his pain.

With her, the touches are just a pale imitation.

They protect their secret, carefully. No passion made marks, bar the occasional scrape to be explained away with a throwaway story of a rough day at work.

Ten years ago it was the thrill, the power of something illegal, of a building attraction. Now the rush is overtaken by the terror of being caught, the fear of the loss they face; the very real, intense feeling of two hearts in love trying to shelter each other from their destructive reality.

The rules are harsh, but broken they would be worse. Worse than the agony of hiding away. The pain would be public: humiliation, torture, perhaps death.

He wishes theirs was still a world where lovers were free to choose, where rules could be bent or changed. But he cannot risk his love. Will not.

So they continue to meet in dark alleys for desperate fumbles, cheap motels, with proprietors who turn a blind eye, for passion and comfort.

Their kisses say everything. Everything they can't say aloud. No whispered promises now. There’s no point. There’s nowhere to run to where their love would be safe.

Now talk reaches his ears of opening new mines, and a new factory in the next county over. Talk of Magnus going. There’ll be no warning if he’s chosen. He’ll be packed up and whisked away in the dead of the night. No time to say goodbye.

So Alec clings on a little harder, holds him a little tighter, kisses him a little longer, burns memories in his mind, knowing every time could be their last.


End file.
